Emmy nominations 2016: Dramas

The 2016 Emmy nominations were announced at 1:30am local time yesterday, and I decided that I’d sleep through it. I’m perfectly happy with that decision. I don’t really have much to say about the Emmy nominations that haven’t already been said, but as usual there are some things that are great, and some not so great. You can find the full list of nominations here (okay, it’s not the full list, it excludes the Creative Arts categories, which I’ll peruse later).

The Good Wife: My once favourite drama was inconsistent in its two final seasons, so I’m not too surprised that it didn’t get many nominations. For the second year in a row, Julianna Marguiles wasn’t nominated, but the show got a writing nod for its finale, which I didn’t like very much (you need to earn your moments, which is exactly why its best episodes were so good).

The Americans: is the big winner in this year’s Emmys, as the body seems to finally have started watching this show and realised just how good it is. I am woefully behind on the fourth season, because I watched screeners for the first two episodes, caught the third and then immediately fell behind (it was scheduled at 8:30 on a Wednesday night, which is the spot that everyone wants to win ever since Spicks and Specks dominated that timeslot). Aside from character actress Margo Martindale and the occasional writing nod, it hasn’t done particularly well even in terms of nominations and I’m okay if it’s taking over for Mad Men in the drama categories. It got best drama and writing nominations, as well as acting nominations for both Matthew Rhys and Keri Russell, whose performances are stunning. Russell outshone her costar for the first couple of seasons, but Rhys’ performance has always been great, and he broke my heart every week in the third season. Yay!

Downton Abbey: is a perennial nominee, so its appearance here in drama categories isn’t too surprising. It’s the last year it will be nominated though, so I’m interested to see what takes its place.

Orphan Black: Tatiana Maslany has been nominated for her work for the second year in a row, and I want to shower her with all the awards.

Game of Thrones: Even more acting nominations! In addition to Lena Heady, Emilia Clarke and Peter Dinklage, we have Kit Harington and Maisie Williams. I love this show and all those actors, but I’m disappointed Sophie Turner, Natalie Dormer, Gwendoline Christie and Nikolaj Coster-Waldau weren’t nominated. We have two directing nominations for “The Door” and “Battle of the Bastards” and I really want “The Door” to win. I wrote a whole post about how much I loved it. Besides all of that, more actresses than actors have been nominated, and my list of potential nominees has more actresses on it as well. Maybe women will rule Westeros when all of this is over.

Better Call Saul: I just want to know whether Mike really has rhododendrons in his backyard. That’s irresponsible water use! It’s not my favourite show on TV, but I enjoy it, which is enough.

Mr Robot: I was late to this show, but it’s great, and I’m really happy for Rami Malek, who was passed over for a Golden Globe earlier this year.

UnREAL: Constance Zimmer got a nomination! Yay! I would have loved Best Drama and a nod for Shiri Appleby (she’d better get one next year, her performance in last week’s episode was stunning – she directed that episode, too), but I’ll take Contance and the writing nod.

Lemonade: Is this where Beyonce’s campaign for the EGOT gets real? This is possibly my favourite nomination.

Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series: Taraji P Henson and Viola Davis were both nominated again even though their shows weren’t and if they just took turns winning for the next few years I’d be okay with that.

This is where I’ll leave it off for now, I’ll do comedy and limited series in separate posts. I’m also going to write something regarding House of Cards and Orange Is the New Black, so look out for that.